


second fiddle

by ninata



Category: Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, ロード・エルメロイⅡ世の事件簿 - 三田誠 | Lord El-Melloi II Case Files - Sanda Makoto
Genre: Character Study, M/M, Pining, Pre-Canon, Unrequited Love, drunken kisses, just guys being dudes, lad moment! lad moment!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22433167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninata/pseuds/ninata
Summary: On a night coming back from Iraq, Melvin’s teasing goes a little too far, and he ends up in deeper than he expected.
Relationships: Waver Velvet/Melvin Waynez
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	second fiddle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fearboss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fearboss/gifts).



> no warnings necessary! other than the classic don’t like don’t read!!!!1111 and me defending melvin weins’s honor to the grave thamks again to makoto sanda for my Life

"Oh, you are  _ drunk."  _ Melvin laughs, supporting Waver Velvet on his shoulder uneasily.

Melvin's bad constitution makes him, hardly, the person to be guiding a drunk man home. The family healer had been saying Melvin was overexerting himself too much, and would pay for it later. Too much time on his feet, bad for his joints and his lungs. But you only got so many chances to see the world, didn't you? Waver's a little heavy, and his sluggish steps make Melvin stumble himself.

Waver reeks of alcohol. For someone who declared so confidently that he hated the taste, he sure did pound the whiskey tonight. With a resolute air, Melvin again nodded to himself thinking Waver had certainly changed during his trip to Japan.

For better or worse? Well, there was a certain pleasure in seeing him so bedraggled. Someone who hated drinking— or, no, specifically Waver— there was a satisfaction in that. After all, watching Waver embarrass himself was Melvin’s beloved pastime.

“Hey, we’re almost to the hostel. Are you gonna make it?” Melvin asks with mirth. Waver produces an iron grip on his forearm, a similar tightness forming in Melvin’s chest.

“Shut up and walk.” Waver grumbles. Melvin licks his lips, laughs lightly, and does just that.

Their room is cramped. In this ideal situation, Waver grumbles and rests his weight against the wall, his dark hair falling around his cheeks and hanging delicately in a low ponytail beneath his neck. Melvin's eyes trace the locks and how they sit, following the thin light that shines off of them. If he hazards a look at Waver's face, he can see it's a tight knot, furiously attempting to sober itself.

"Hey, Waver, are you going to throw up?" Melvin leans in closer with a smile to mask the uncomfortable feeling in his chest. What was he doing, getting all worked up being alone with  _ Waver?  _ Pesky, idiot Waver, the one who never did the assigned readings or got higher than a D on his papers? Waver, who was suddenly talking all big out of nowhere after they ran into each other in Iraq? Jeez. Melvin must have been getting desperate if his attentions were being set on Waver Velvet of all people.

"Shut up, you…"

Waver slings his hand forward, grabbing Melvin by the front of his shirt. Melvin stares at him wide eyed.

Yeah, what was he thinking? Waver was a forgettable nobody. A third generation with nothing to his name…

_ Please! Lend me money! _

How unreasonable. How hopelessly amusing. Where was Waver's life going to go? What was Waver going to do with himself?

Why did Melvin want to know?

He leans in, testing the waters. Waver inhales sharply, then shrinks backwards, his tanned cheeks reddening. "I...Melvin? What are you…"

"No good?" Melvin feels some embarrassment swell in his ribcage.

"...I…"

An emotion passes over Waver's face that Melvin can't exactly read. Some kind of longing look out to the distance.

Oh.

Maybe Waver loves someone?

Maybe Waver loves someone from Japan and had to leave. Maybe something else. Melvin's stomach churns in jealousy. He can feel it burn, and he coughs harshly into his elbow.

"Melvin, I…"

"No, don't worry about it! I was just joking, anyways."

Melvin bites back some snide comment. It feels wrong to. Didn't he like to be cruel? Wasn't he a jerk, of all things?

"...Just one."

Melvin perks up a little, looking back at Waver.

"It's not...I...just don't be weird about it."

"Me? Be weird about it? Oh, Waver, surely you jest! I would never—"

Waver grabs him again, pulling him towards him. Melvin's voice dies in his throat. Waver leans in, then...angles his head, then angles it a different way. His stale breath fills Melvin's nose, and boy, it really isn't that romantic.

"H-Hold on," Waver mumbles, his nostrils flaring. Melvin shouldn't find that charming, so he decides he doesn’t. Firmly convinced he isn’t falling deeper into the creek, he shuts his eyes. 

Their faces crush together uncomfortably. A passionless, stiff kiss, unsatisfying in every respect. Melvin sighs when it’s over, frustrated.

“Waver, that was pretty lame.”

“Wha— Shut up!”

“Was that your first kiss?”

“No!”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Back in primary, I—“ He puffs up, visibly offended. “Once! But he pretended like it never happened, and—“

“Does that even count?”

_ “It counts!” _

Waver folds his arms, drawing his knees to his chest.

“Oh!” Melvin exclaims in delight. “Did I put you off?”

“You’re an ass, Melvin.”

Melvin leans back in, grinning like a cat about to catch a mouse. “You’re too funny.”

There’s one more kiss. Melvin leads the way, but he suddenly feels small. Something in Waver, the pathetic, whimpy Waver, had started to shine so brightly, Melvin could only stand back and marvel.

_ There’s something I want to do. _

Those words carried a weight Melvin didn’t understand. But he wanted to know. He wanted to see it to the end. He wanted Waver Velvet, the fool that he was, to either fall into the depths of despair…

Or better yet, succeed where he never thought he could.

Melvin didn’t quite know it yet that night, but he had fallen— stumbled quite stupidly into a game he knew he’d never win, signed away his life to watch over a man who’d never love him.

But he could live with second fiddle. Just standing by his side would be enough. Marveling in that light, that of someone with an earnest dream, of someone with an earnest wish for goodness, someone who would take on the name Lord El-Melloi II. If only he could understand how someone could still have faith in a world that hated him so much. If only he could feel that light’s warmth, or let it shine on him. 

And he would love him as he did before, a silly infatuation with a loudmouth in his class. A love for Waver Velvet and no other man, no face he put on or identity he’d painstakingly craft. He’d love him for what he was at his core— for what he was in all respects, for his failings and his astounding fortitude. 

“Alright, alright.” Waver’s so red in the face it’s funny. “N-No more. You’ve proven your point!”

“What point, huh, Waver?” Melvin asks, brimming with something he didn’t yet understand. 

“Good night!”

Waver turned over and crawled under the blankets. Melvin snickered, curling up beside him, back to back.

It wasn’t decided in a night, but Melvin would love Waver for the rest of his life. Even if it meant nothing to Waver, and even if it would never be reciprocated. If anyone asked, Melvin was a brute looking for trouble. If anyone asked, he was simply amusing himself. No magus, or tuner, could possibly feel the way he felt, so he would disguise it as best as he could with clever words and the stiff upper lip he had a right to bear. 

If that was wrong, then Melvin would be wrong forever. That was fine.

Yeah, that was just fine. After all, he was an inordinately cruel, sadistic brute.

**Author's Note:**

> i am on a plane rn to turkey and then to pakistan so this is fitting i think!!!! and also merry christmas tam you wildcard. thanks for the read folks


End file.
